To the Editor:
    Traveling south from Madison on Highway 441 and a few miles north of Eatonton you will find a small church on the left. I know nothing about the congregation, but for quite some time a little message board in front of the church read simply, “Pray for our leaders.” Very touching and poignant.
    In the last three months I haven’t seen or heard anything quite like that simple plea. What I hear from Paul Broun is, "President Obama is a Marxist and he hates America!” This is right after Broun brags about what a great Christian HE is and how he only votes for things that are moral and how important the Bible is to our country.
    Yes, it is more than taxes, it is about fear and hate and anger. The fact that calling our President a Marxist makes just as much sense as me calling the Congressman a pig-footed bandicoot is lost on those who only see the world through jaded glasses.
    I listened to Ron Paul’s speech at CPAC last month. Starting to talk about why we should not be in Iraq he said, “Over a million Iraqis have been killed…” and the crowd began to cheer, then it quickly realized that Mr. Paul meant that as a BAD thing. The fact that people at CPAC would initially applaud when they hear that a million human beings have been killed tells us that it is about more than taxes.
    I read Human Events, a closed-minded right wing rag, subscribe on line to Newsmax, a strange conservative mix of paranoia, confused facts and health tips, and read as many conservative blogs as I can. I see almost nothing about taxes, but a lot of ranting about socialism, Marxism, closing public schools, gun rights etc., etc. The diatribes often become violent as they call for the President and others to be killed. Some suggest the very Union be somehow dismantled. Always there are the bumper stickers preach hate and intolerance.
    Last week our local ditto head squeaked out about Democrats John Murtha and Chris Dodd and their use of earmarks. But he didn’t give any background. In 1991, there were 524 earmarks attached to Congressional legislation. Through the '90s earmarks grew by leaps and bounds as the “Conservative cost-cutting” Congress watched as they reached 4,000 by 2000. George Bush and club then shot them to over the 13,000 mark in 2005.
    Where Democrats part of the problem?  You “betcha.” Were Republicans tea-bagging while the Republican president and Congress let the entire economy spiral out of control? No. But suddenly, after the new President has been in office two months, there is a heartfelt concern about spending and accountability.
    Right below Fred Johnson’s faux political column, was a letter by Karl Fossom, calling the community to come together, unite and work to help each other. That was refreshing. The simple fact is, the country we love has run aground. Now we are in lifeboats and we have elected Mr. Obama as our captain to guide us through some very troubled waters.
Bill Scholly
Buckhead
Via e-mail

PRINTED IN THE APRIL 23, 2009 EDITION